3 Art Lessons for Preschoolers: Picasso, Kandinsky, Mondrian

I am so excited to show you our 3 art lessons (with an extension) that we did!

These 3 Art lessons for preschoolers are on our interpretations of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) and artist Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) works of art.

I hope you will enjoy these and be inspired to make some of these with your littles.

Don’t forget to visit our resources hub for music and fine arts!

It is full of wonderful hands-on ideas for you to use at home.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright (Google search).

For our Picasso class, our co-op leader, Heather, talked about Pablo Picasso and showed us his original (and very interesting) works of art.

For this simple lesson plans, you will need:

• Old magazines (kid-friendly topics)
• Glue sticks, white glue or tacky glue
• Child-sized scissors
• One sheet of construction paper per child
• Washable markers
• Examples of Pablo Picasso’s artwork

Steps:

1. On the sheet of construction paper, use a marker to draw a circle or an oval for the head.
2. Open up a few magazines and find big enough eyes (2), nose, mouth and accessories (hair, hats, items to go on as shirts, etc). Cut them up. Make the eyes look different so the artwork looks mismatched.
3. Place all the pieces on the drawn head to see where they would be placed and then glue the pieces in the right place. The more unique, the better your Pablo Picasso-ish artwork will be!
4. Let them dry thoroughly and display them proudly.

Picasso Resources

 Pablo Picasso (Revised Edition) (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists (Paperback)) Picasso and the Girl with a Ponytail (Anholt’s Artists Books For Children) PicassoTiles 100 Piece Set 100pcs Magnet Building Tiles Clear Magnetic 3D Building Blocks  Colorful Picasso Imaginative Painting Man Sofa Simple Home Decor  Picasso’s Work Series Postcards ,16 in a Pack

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Piet Mondrian Art Lesson (1872-1944)

Piet Mondrian made such awesome and such simple art.

Cubism is quite simple for children as it is easy to trace and draw straight lines.

In our lesson, the Art co-op leader, Lynsey, showed us a documentary on Piet Mondrian (Netflix) where we were able to see many of his works of art.

We were able to get a pretty good idea on how he worked and how to attempt to imitate his masterpieces.

Mondrian Art for Kids

For this simple craft, you will need:

• One piece of large white construction paper for each child
• Strips of black construction paper in different widths, precut before class or a black marker and a ruler
• Crayons, markers and/or paint
• Glue sticks, white glue or tacky glue
• Paintbrushes (if using paint)
• Examples of Piet Mondrian’s artwork (cubism)

Piet Mondrian for Kids – Steps:

1. Give each child on white sheet of construction paper and a set of 10-16 strips of black construction paper in varying widths.
2. Have children arrange the strips vertically (up and down) to form vertical lines and glue them using either glue sticks, white glue or tacky glue.
3. Place more strips, but this time to make horizontal lines (left to right) to create squares and rectangles. Glue the strips and let them dry. Now, you will have a mixture of horizontal and vertical lines.
4. Pick the three primary colors (red, blue, yellow) and black that you want to use (crayons, markers or paint).
5. Inside some of the white areas between the black strips, color or paint with these four colors: blue, black, red and yellow.
6. Dry thoroughly and display proudly. This activity is perfect for color studies as well!

Mondrian Resources

 RedExtend29 Women’s Fashion Street Beat Legs Tight Stretch Nightclubs Leggings Color Your Own Modern Art Masterpieces (Dover Art Coloring Book) Mondrian Composition With Large Red Plane Pillow Case 18 CafePress Kids Light T-Shirt – Mondrian art style Kids Light T-Shirt – KL Ash Grey Kids Homage To Mondrian 10 Kelly Green

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Wassily Kandinsky Art Projects (1866-1944)

Kandinsky “is credited with painting one of the first purely abstract works.” (Wikipedia)

He created some amazing works of art, mostly geometric in nature.

Kandinsky and Picasso have shown similar artistic themes, but each with their own twist.

The easiest for children to recreate are his circles.

I am going to show you two ways to make the circles.

Kandinsky Art Lesson

In our Art co-op a couple of years ago, we used:

• One sheet of construction paper for each child
• Rectangles cut out of construction paper in different colors (6 per child)
• Circles cut in different sizes and in different colors out of tissue paper
• Glue sticks, white glue or tacky glue
• Examples of Kandinsky’s works of Art

Kandinsky Art for Kids – Steps:

1. On the sheet of construction paper, glue 6 rectangles of construction paper in different colors.
2. Let each child pick 6 large circles to glue on each rectangle.
3. Let each child then pick 6 medium circles to glue on top of the large circles.
4. Let each child pick 6 small circles in different colors to glue on top of the medium circles.
5. If you choose, focus on these vocabulary words: small, medium, large, circle, rectangle, color names, etc.
6. If you so desire, you can do more than 3 circle layers. Just have fun with the children’s creativity and go with it.

In our Art co-op this year with Heather, we used:

• One sheet of white construction paper for each child
• Washable markers

Steps:

1. Show children how to fold the sheet of white construction paper into thirds (vertically) to make two creases when the sheet is opened.
2. Now crease the paper into thirds again, but this time, horizontally so you see a total of 9 rectangles on the paper when completely opened.
3. Have children trace over all the creases with a marker to show 9 rectangles.
4. Inside each rectangle, use markers to draw circles (small, medium and large) in different colors. Color in each circle with the matching marker.

Kandinsky Resources

 Kandinsky (Basic Art Series 2.0) Wassilly Kandinsky Colour Study Square With Concentric Circles Large Print Kid’s T-Shirt (7 to 8, White) The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art Kandinsky Squares Concentric Circle 1913 Throw Pillow Case Coloring Book Kandinsky (Prestel Colouring Books S.)

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I am so grateful that we were able to join this Art co-op because we had so much fun playing and learning, but most of all, we loved imitating these 3 great artists!

Thank you for visiting our 3 Art Lessons for Preschoolers: Picasso, Kandinsky, Mondrian post!

Have you been inspired?

Which artist do you like the best?

Which work of art will you try first?

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